I stumbled upon this thread whilst attempting my own research on "Kilroy" and have found it useful - there are some very interesting thoughts and memories here. But I'm still struggling to make sense of my "Kilroy", and I wonder if anyone has any ideas:

I live in Madrid where there is a lot of graffiti and street art. The latest to appear (I've seen it in two places now, but one was hastily painted over) is a large, scrawled:
"KILROY WASN'T HERE".
I'm sure, from the neighbourhood, that it is intended to be a political statement; I assumed related to the economic crisis and unemployment and ironically intended. This is probably because I was familiar with the MacColl song - his Kilroy was such a worker but now who has the opportunity to work hard and prove themselves in this way?
But reading all your memories and the origins of the phrase, I'm no longer sure this works. Of course it's more than possible that the graffiti artist has just taken something they know little about and run with it, but I'd be very interested to know your takes on it.
Many thanks!